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Hot Batteries in TV Remote

My son noticed that the battery area of our TV remote was quite hot. I immediately removed the batteries, both were almost too hot to hold onto. Sorry, I didn't check to see if the batteries were installed with the polarities correct. They had gotten so hot that the plastic surrounding the negative terminal that connects to the PCB was slightly melted and deformed.

A new set of batteries did not cause the remote to function.

I disassembled the remote and completely cleaned it. Scraped gunk out of the holes in the remote casing with a small jewelers screwdriver followed with a toothbrush and soapy water. Cleaned the flexible plastic sheet that functions as the button pad with soapy water and toothbrush. Completely dried everything with a hair dryer. Carefully pulled on spring for neg. terminal, stretching it so it will retain a battery, reassembled and put in fresh set of batteries. All is well.

What caused the batteries to get hot?

Reply to
powrwrap
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If the batteries were making poor contact with the negative spring, that in itself could have caused localized heating right at the spring.

Reply to
hrhofmann

OK that's plausible. I'll stretch the springs out even more.

Reply to
powrwrap

Yeah, I've got nothing better to do than make up stories.

Would you like me to post a photo of the melted plastic section that houses the negative terminal spring?

Reply to
powrwrap

I doubt that is it. Remotes draw very little current for very short periods of time. I poor connection would cause eratic behavior, but not a lot of heat. I suspect the batteries were somehow shorted thereby causing the current to be only limited by the battery's internal resistance. That would heat the batteries.

Reply to
greenpjs

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so

No cat, and no evidence of anything spilled on the remote. I do know that the springs on the negative battery terminals had been compressed over the years and the batteries were not snug in the compartment.

How about the battery was loosely set in the battery drawer AND the remote was wedged between the sofa cushions constantly pressing down on some buttons. It's been like that overnight. Then my son comes along, pulls the remote out from the cushions and notices it is hot. (?)

I'll ask him if the remote was wedged in the sofa when he gets home from school.

Reply to
powrwrap

ed

es

lty

ew so

Have had this sort of thing happen twice over the years...the cause was the same both times: Child who could not keep his fingers out of anything with moving parts; batteries removed and re-inserted more or less continuously for hours on end. Until one of the cells was inserted backwards. Remote survived in one case, did not survive in the other. This is not conjecture...child is now an adult and confessed in detail after returning from a deployment cruise.

Reply to
webpa

It happened again last night. I watched the 6 p.m. news, shut the TV off and put the remote on the end table. My entire family went out Christmas shopping. At about 8:30 my son picked up the remote to turn on the TV and it was hot. The batteries were extremely hot. The negative terminal was melted more than the original episode. Very strange.

Obviously the thing is toast. Am now shopping for a new remote. Probably will get a universal.

Reply to
powrwrap

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